ABA National Championships: Jack Bateson wants to prove he is England's best 52kg boxer

Jack Bateson has stated his desire to go out and prove that he is the best flyweight boxer in England at the upcoming ABA Championships in Liverpool.

The Leeds-born fighter is looking to secure his third national title having won gold in the light-flyweight division for the past two years.

However, having recently moved up in weight, Bateson will not be seeded and must first come through a regional qualifier to claim his place in the quarter-finals at the end of April.

“I’ve got to go through my regional stages, which I’m quite happy about to be honest,” he said. “I weighed in on Saturday and I found out I’m boxing on Sunday 13 April and I have a bout with a lad from Sheffield, from the Ingle’s gym.

“I don’t know much about him but I’m not going to take it lightly. I’ll go in there and hopefully put on a good performance. As long as I win this fight then I’ll be competing at the Echo Arena in Liverpool on the 25 April in the quarter-final.”

The Sky Academy Sports Scholar is happier in his new weight class with the fact that he can now focus solely on his boxing the major plus point.

Better

“Obviously I’m still growing, I’m only 19 and I felt I had to move up in weight category,” Bateson added. “I feel I’m performing a lot better now that I don’t have to worry about the weight, I can just concentrate on performing and training hard.

“I’ve been working a lot on my strength, obviously moving up in weight I’ve had to put on a bit of muscle but I’ve already filled out into the weight and the weight isn’t a problem now. I’m just really enjoying it and I’m looking forward to hopefully getting a third senior title under my belt.

“Hopefully if I can win these then that’ll secure me a spot at the Commonwealth Games. It’ll be a good test but I’m confident.”

With a place in Glasgow as the prize and two titles already under his belt, Bateson was bullish in his talking about his expectations for the championships.

“I believe that I’m the best in England at 52kg so I’ve got to go out and prove it and I won’t be happy unless I win the ABAs,” he said. “It’s no good getting to the final or getting to the semi-finals, you’ve got to win it to actually make sure you go to something like the Commonwealth Games.

“My aim is to win and I’m expecting to win so I’ve got to train hard, take every fight as if it’s the final and hopefully I’ll come out on top.”